Will sheriff's budget compromise be enough?

Accused killer and ring leader in the Seath Jackson Murder Michael Bargo stares out of his high security cell in the high security unit of the Marion County Jail in Ocala, FL on Thursday July 11, 2013. Sheriff Chris Blair has asked for a larger budget to address jail understaffing and replacing older vehicles among other things.

Last Modified: Saturday, July 13, 2013 at 6:18 p.m.

Accused killer and ring leader in the Seath Jackson Murder Michael Bargo stares out of his high security cell in the high security unit of the Marion County Jail in Ocala, FL on Thursday July 11, 2013. Sheriff Chris Blair has asked for a larger budget to address jail understaffing and replacing older vehicles among other things.

Alan Youngblood/Star-Banner

His boss, then-Sheriff Ed Dean, once said that if he had a troubling rash of crimes — say, a series of unsolved home burglaries someplace in Marion County — it was Blair he turned to, knowing that the tenacious lawman would lie in the bushes for days, if necessary, until he caught the thief.

Now that he is sheriff, Blair is just as tenacious battling political, rather than criminal, adversaries.

But his hard-charging approach rankles some.

The very first budget Blair submitted as sheriff, for example, contained a whopping $17.4 million increase for everything from deputies to corrections officers, cars, computer equipment and raises.

County commissioners admitted they were caught off guard by the request, and several were miffed that Blair for weeks seemed unwilling to accede to their request to cut his request sharply when all the other elected officers had slashed their budgets to the bone. They noted that funding Blair's increase would require a tax hike of about $149 per household in unincorporated Marion County.

But Blair did cut.

He first trimmed a modest $1.2 million. And then he cut another $8 million on Friday, submitting a new budget to commissioners that still contains an $8.2 million increase.

That actually leaves the two sides about $12 million apart. Commissioners say that Blair must find an additional $4 million in cuts to make up for higher costs for employee health insurance and retirement, as well as $2 million the county contends the sheriff owes toward operation of the joint communication center.

Heightening the tension between the commission and the sheriff is this: Blair revealed last week that he plans to ask for additional increases over the subsequent four years in hopes of adding new corrections officers and 100 additional deputies, replacing aging cars and computer equipment, and giving raises to his employees.

In a three-hour interview on Thursday, Blair reflected on the controversy over his budget, including criticism that he was backtracking on his campaign pledge from less than a year ago to address manpower problems at the Sheriff's Office without raising taxes.

“I was wrong. I'm openly admitting to you that I didn't know the condition of the Marion County Sheriff's Office,” Blair said. “There was no way I knew.”

He argues that years of belt-tightening at the department left it with a depleted patrol force, dangerously low staffing levels at the jail and an aging fleet of high-mileage patrol cars.

He noted that former Sheriff Dean, who shepherded the department through a historic recession, was also asked by the County Commission to hold the line on taxes year after year, and so Dean was forced to cut his budget.

“(Dean) received letters to cut, cut, cut. What was he going to do?” Blair asked rhetorically. “Now I'm in that position. The only difference is, I'm going to take a stance.”

“I was floored the first time I saw his budget request,” said Commissioner Stan McClain, who has been appointed to go through the sheriff's request line by line looking for areas to cut. “It certainly wasn't what I was expecting because of the campaign Chris had run. He said he'd look at the department, figure things out and not put it on the backs of the taxpayers.”

McClain was also surprised recently to learn that Blair's request is Year One of a five-year plan to add millions of dollars worth of people, equipment and cars to the department.

“I don't think even spreading the (original) $17 million over five years is a reasonable expectation, given the economic climate.” McClain said,

Blair believes he has been the reasonable one in this monthlong budget debate.

He said he has reorganized much of the department to try to focus on getting criminals off the street and taking pressure off patrol deputies.

For example, when 13 supervisors between the ranks of sergeant and major followed former Sheriff Dean out the door, Blair converted their $563,000 in combined salaries into 23 front-line patrol deputies and corrections officers and was able to purchase a handful of cars as well.

And working on the theory that a handful of criminals commit the majority of crimes, he created a fugitive unit and directed it to get people with outstanding warrants off the street.

He also created a quick-strike “tactical unit” composed of officers throughout the agency who can deal quickly and decisively with rashes of burglaries or violent crimes.

“I'm trying to be negotiable,” he said, “but we have to start somewhere, and they (county commissioners) want to start at a flat budget. We can't cut no more. We have to start going up. And 20 deputies is not a dramatic increase to keep the public safe and my deputies safe.”

It isn't just the request for additional deputies that troubles commissioners, however. In fact, in recent budget discussions, at least two of them fished for a compromise that would allow the commission to give Blair 20 new deputies if he'd drop his large budget request.

Blair didn't budge at the time. He insisted everything in his request was essential, prompting commissioners to begin questioning items like step pay increases and a separate across-the-board pay increase for all 723 employees of the department.

Those pay increase remain in the amended budget Blair submitted Friday, but only for civilian employees and officers below the rank of lieutenant. That still means the vast majority of the department would receive raises, while other county employees would not.

“Listen, I'd like to see all county employees get raises,” Blair said. “The bottom line is, sheriff's deputies are putting their lives on the line serving their community.”

When pressed to explain why so many other employees who are not in harm's way daily are also due raises, he replied, “In fairness, it's kind of difficult to choose who's going to get a raise. This is supposed to be a family.”

The sheriff and County Commission are expected to continue meeting during the summer as they work toward finalizing the budget before the fall.

Blair said he mas made his case for additional officers and equipment, and now the onus is on the commission.

“To me, I put the facts before them, and they have to figure out how to fund it,” he said,

Commissioner McClain said that until the board tells him to stop, he and his committee will continue to go through the sheriff's budget looking to cut what the sheriff is unwilling to cut.

He still thinks the sheriff's budget can come in flat next year.

“I think $75 million is a lot of money to run a department on,” he said.

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